Poisonous Pen
by lilyqueen777
Summary: AU Pre4th year. Harry learns more about his parent's death, and what does his mysterious letters have to do with it? And what is truly going on in school, behind the green slime to his letters...please rr!
1. The First Letter

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**Poisonous Pen **

**Original title: Poisonus Pen by Pettigrew's Daughter**

**Beta: lilyqueen777 **

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Disclaimer: My friend posted this on a site called fandom . com in the year 2000. I'm updating the story here for her. Anyway, I don't own Harry Potter, that is owned by J.K. Rowling. I don't own the plot, that is owned by Pettigrew's Daughter. Enjoy!

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**Chapter 1****: The First Letter  
**

"This girl, I think she's a first or second year, just gave Harry a letter-" Hermione began.

'Wo hoo, Harry! What did she write? Any juicy bits?" Grinning mischievously, Ron sat down opposite them.

"Ron!-That's the thing-!"

Harry interrupted. He could see a fight forming. "I haven't opened it yet, we were waiting for you. Anyway, I don't think it's from her, I have a feeling…" He glanced back at the note, startled as someone peeked out from between the sheets, a pair of eyes so similar to his own, like brilliant green stones stared back at him.

He pulled the photo out. It was only small, about passport size, framed by half a centimeter of white cardboard. She was gaunt looking, smiling though her eyes indicated there was something wrong. Her shoulder-length red hair flared around her shoulders like blood in water. As soon as he saw her bespectacled green eyes he knew instantly who she was: his mother; He had seen so many photographs of her, but never one so up-close.

Gleaming white teeth shone to match the silver prefect's badge displayed at the base of her neck. Her black dress was a stunning contrast to her white skin and her dark red hair. She was still, motionless. The photo was obviously taken by a muggle camera.

"Harry, what is it?" Ron asked, watching his friend grow china-pale.

"Harry are you all right?!" Hermione sounded frantic. She loomed closer to look at the photograph in his hand, "It's your mother…Harry what does this mean?"

Someone had drawn a line in brilliant red ink through the picture. Written in blotchy handwriting, unsimiliar to that on the outside of the note were the words, 'Lily Potter. Murdered.'

"What kind of sick joke is this?" Harry wondered aloud, fumbling with the rest of the note. There was a vague inkling in the back of his mind that this was all a big set-up, probably by his arch-enemy, Draco Malfoy, but this didn't seem like him. Draco's style was always so obvious and out in the open. If he wanted to make your life misery, you'd know it.

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The note read as follows: 

**Harry, **

**  
We must meet. I need to tell you something, urgently. You must trust me or you will lose your life like your parents did so foolishly. **

**Meet me at midnight tonight on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, near Hagrid's hut. I know somewhere we can talk, come alone. **

**If you are accompanied I may be forced to take drastic action!**

* * *

"Harry, this letter's a threat! You must tell Professor McGonagall…Someone is trying to kill you!" Hermione exclaimed once she had read the letter. 

Ron frowned, "No, he can't do that. For all we know it could be from Sirius and telling a teacher would just get him into trouble."

"No it's not from Sirius…" Harry said slowly, "His writing's far tidier and upright than this mess. Besides, he would have signed it. This letter's anonymous. I have to find out who it's from."

You aren't seriously thinking of going are you?!" Hermione asked, the pitch of her voice showing shock. She grabbed his shoulders, "Harry, it would be very foolish thing to do. This person sounds dangerous; they're making very clear threats. It just would not be safe…Harry! Harry?"

Harry looked at the letter again, "I'm going to find that girl and find out where she got this from before I do anything else. For all I know it could be just a big set-up by Malfoy or someone just to scare me."

"Did either of you see where she went?" A look of disappointment crossed Ron's face as Hermione and Harry shook their heads, "You're very observant aren't you?"

"I think she went out of the common room" Harry said.

"Well the best thing to do is to split up and look for her. Ron, you come with me because you didn't see her, we'll check the grounds. Harry you check the school." Hermione stood up and handed Harry the note. She grabbed Ron by the arm and led him away, much to his disgust.

* * *

Harry finally found the girl curled up in the library. She was a second year, he remembered, not a first, and her name was Zoë McMillan. 

Zoë wasn't very helpful. She tossed her long blonde curls off her face and declared. "I was walking out on the Quidditch Pitch when this lady came from nowhere. She said, 'Give this to Harry Potter' and was gone."

"What did she look like? Did you see where she went?"

"She was wearing this big gray cloak, terribly tasteless, if you ask me. I couldn't see her face because it was covered by the hood of the cloak and a green scarf. I know she was a woman because of her voice; it was quite deep and kind of purry, like a cat. I didn't see where she went; I would have told you if I did." Zoë said, shaking her head.

"Don't you think it's strange that she just said 'Give this to Harry Potter' and you did?" Hermione interrogated. Harry hadn't heard her and Ron arrive but that was probably because they were ignoring one another.

Zoë's brown eyes glazed and she pouted, "All right, she gave me three gallons and a silver sickle to deliver it. Then, she just ran off into the forest."

"Did she seem very old to you or was she young?"

"I don't know-"

"You're very observant then are you?" Ron thundered, turning the librarian, Madam Pince's head. She headed towards them, a yellow detention book in hand.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione fled, leaving Zoë to deal with Madam Pince.

"Great one, Ron! We could have got more out of her if you had toned your voice down" Hermione moaned.

Ron stopped and snapped, "Well if hadn't put her back up I wouldn't have had to yell at her!" Not bothering to lower his voice he added, "Know-it-all, always thinks she knows best."

"Guys, stop it. That is enough-"

Another boy's voice cut Harry cut off. It was cold and sharp like a knife, "Oow, look it's the famous Gryffindors, Harry Potter, Mudblood Granger and the tall Weasley kid making another scene. Perhaps we should stay and watch…"

"Shut up!" Hermione stumbled away, just missing Malfoy as she deliberately pushed past him.

"Geez, she didn't need to get so upset. Don't you agree Potter? I mean all I did was tell the truth, everyone knows she's a Mudblood, it's nothing new-" Draco said icily as his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle sniggered.

"Harry, Harry, are you all right?" Ron asked.

Harry pushed his way blindly back into the library. Something very strange was going on. He could barely hear Ron's voice and Ron's face was melting away…He tried to fight the darkness falling on him. He couldn't. Blackness engulfed him.

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_He was in the library. The early evening sunlight filtered new and fresh through the dusty curtains. Everyone had disappeared as if by magic, except for one short girl stacking shelves. She had a shock of dark red hair which was tied up in a rather messy attempt at a bun. Her faded black robes were tatty and holed. _

_Harry thought it was Ron's little sister, so he asked her, "Ginny, what are you doing?" Strangely, he couldn't hear his own voice and she certainly didn't seem to either._

_For a moment she stopped working and stood motionless. She didn't turn around. Then she went back to slotting books into the library shelves. _

_Harry felt a funny feeling run through his body. His head spun as if he were floating. He felt light-headed and dizzy. A flowing melody drifted through his head as he approached the girl, noticing that he was hovering 3 inched off the floor. "Ginny?" He asked again. _

_This time she turned around. It wasn't Ginny. Stray red hair fell across her face. She wore dark-rimmed glasses which framed her bright green eyes in oblongs. There was a dash of brown freckles across her nose and pink cheeks. Her surprised eyes stared right through him._

"_Peter! You startled me! What on Earth are you doing here? I thought you'd be down watching the Quidditch…"_

_Harry realized she wasn't speaking to him at all but to a chubby boy who had just entered the library. This boy had sandy brown hair and looked strangely familiar…_

"_Well Lily, that's it-" The boy, Peter, began. _

"_Oh, I know why you're here. Sorry, I totally forgot. It's that Defense Against the Dark Arts assignment we're working on together, isn't it? The books are under section 921, I'll be with you in a minute if you'll just get started-"_

"_No Lily, it's not that-" Peter twiddled with his thumbs, nervously as she continued stacking shelves, the silver prefect's badge at her throat gleaming. _

_Lily picked up an extra heavy volume and pushed it into place with great difficulty. "The Quidditch, how is it going?"_

"_We're losing," Peter told her, "Miserably. Without Lois and James on the team we don't have a chance against Falcon's Ravenclaw side." _

"_But their injuries are healed-Madam Pomfrey can fix a snapped bone just like that," Lily clicked her fingers, "Why aren't they playing?"_

_Harry kicked the book case. There came no sound, in fact his foot went right through it! What was this? Was he a ghost? Why could he see his dead mother and the man who helped kill her conversing as though they were still in school? He felt scared, how did he get here? What if he could never escaped?_

"_Professor McGonagall sidelined them for this match. She was trying to teach them a lesson at the team's expense" Peter said quietly. _

"_You have to admit that it was a stupid thing to do, playing Quidditch against that tree. They could have been killed, Sirius too; we're lucky he didn't get knocked out by the Whomping Willow and could go and get help." _

"_Yeah, I guess. Anyway, that's why I'm here. James is really low about letting Gryffindor down, James and Lois both are. Nothing me or Remus, or Sirius can do will cheer them up, so we were wondering whether you'd be able to, you know, cheer them up" Peter asked. _

"_I wish I could," Lily picked up another leather bound book from her trolley, "But I promised Madam Pince I'd finish shelving these."_

"_I can do that." Peter said abruptly, "You go and help James, you're good at that." He moved towards the shelves, "You stack them up but the number on their spine, eh?"_

"_Peter, you don't have to do this-"_

"_Look, I want to, okay? Go and cheer up James and Lois." The chubby boy pushed her toward the door, "I can't do it. Go on, he needs you…"  
_

"_Will you? Oh, thank you Peter. You're a great friend, the best in fact. I won't forgot this-" Lily driveled, her green eyes lighting up as she smiled, "Yes, by the number on the spine, thank you, Peter."_

_After making sure Lily left, Peter made his way towards the restricted section if the library. He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and read it, then grabbed a book from the shelves, "I hope this is the right book, Sirius, because we aren't going to get a chance like this again…" _

_Harry's head spun as the room turned tipsy turvy in front of his eyes. He saw his mother, he saw to of her, then she disappeared and everything blackened._

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"Harry! Harry! Wake up!" 

He became aware of fingers digging into his neck and a female voice growing louder and louder. His stomach ached and his head felt as it did after a lesson with Professor Binns.

"Wha-What happened?" he croaked as concerned faces came into view.

A blurry red dot said "Harry you stared going nuts, talking about Quidditch to someone called Peter and then answering yourself in a funny voice. Then you just sort of lurched towards the library stairs and fell over. You're lucky you didn't fall down on the stairs" The dot's voice rose and fell in volume, making Harry feel more squeamish.

Red strands of hair and green eyes met his sore eyes, "Lily? Mum is that you? What is it this? Why is it happening? I-I think I'm going to be sick…" Harry turned his head to the sides as his lunch came up in a torrent. His stomach kept contorting and he was obliged to open his mouth as his vomit rushed out. It smelled rotten.

"Mum always says, better out than in, eh Ron?" Ginny Weasley said cheerfully, holding his head. Harry felt embarrassed. He'd just called her Mum.

"Has anyone gone to get a teacher?" Zoë McMillan asked, her nose wrinkled in disgust.

"Yeah, someone should get Madam Pomfrey for Weasley girl's little baby" Malfoy's voice sneered.

Harry stumbled to his feet. He was not going to give Malfoy the satisfaction of seeing him lying there. "It's all right; I can walk to the hospital wing."

"Harry, are you sure? Look at you; you're falling all over the place. Let me give you a hand-" Ron's face disappeared from view again. Harry could feel people holding him up and was aware that his feet were being dragged along the ground. He couldn't do anything about it. People were talking all around him and he could hear Malfoy jeering and Hermione's disgusted yells.

Things kept slipping in and out of focus in slow motion. Everything was black and grey. Harry felt as though his brain had just taken a one-way trip through Aunt Petunia's blender.

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	2. The Healing Process

Disclaimer: My friend posted this on a site called fandom . com in the year 2000. I'm updating the story here for her. Anyway, I don't own Harry Potter, that is owned by J.K. Rowling. I don't own the plot, that is owned by Pettigrew's Daughter. Enjoy!

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**Chapter 2: The Healing Process**

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Harry woke up an hour later in the hospital wing. Someone had dressed him in pajamas and he was lying on a stiff white bed. The room was dark and shadowed, partitioned off from the rest of the world by stark white curtains.

A shadowy face holding a silver bowl loomed into view. The bowl was full of sick and smelt disgusting. Harry quickly realized that the sticky liquid on his face was spew. His stomach flew in flip-flops.

"How do you feel?" asked the shadowy face. It was Hermione and she looked very worried, despite her attempts to mask it.

On the other side of the bed sat Ron. He looked very pale and slightly green. In his hand was a cloth soaked in sick. "How do you think he feels? He's just vomited up his lunch and probably his breakfast as well. How would you feel?"

"You're right Ron, it was a stupid question to ask" Hermione's head sank to her chest and she stared at the floor. In a muttered understanding she added "I seem to say a lot of stupid things-don't I?"

"Hermione-I, I didn't mean it like that-" Ron began. He was interrupted by Harry who hoarsely whispered, without any urgency at all, "I think I'm gonna be sick!"

There was a shrieking sound of someone pulled aside the curtains, "Ah Harry, I see you have awoken. Feeling any better?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

Between vomits, Harry gasped, "No."

"I have a potion that will make you feel better. But you've got to stop vomiting before I give it you, otherwise it'll just end up in that bowl" Said Madam Pomfrey, "The best thing to do is just empty your while body of this rotten illness. I have a spell that works fast but I have to have your permission-"

"Sure" Harry said, thinking nothing could be worse.

"All right. Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger, the best advice for you would be to step outside. This is not a pretty sight."

"Please Madam, can't we stat and keep Harry company?" Hermione groveled.

"If you must, but I've warned you, okay?" Madam Pomfrey took a step back from the bed and ordered the two students to do the same. "Harry, 90 of the population doesn't feel a thing when the spell used the spell, but 10 do. If you are one of the 10, this spell will be agony, so if you don't want me to proceed tell me now, because I can't stop it once it's begun."

Harry shook his head, "No, I want you to use the spell."

"All right then." Madam Pomfrey pulled out her wad and began walking around the bed in a clockwise motion:

"Rotten bananas,

Cabbage Stew

Make this Child

Spew, Spew, Spew!!"

Suddenly his body started to twitch. From every pore in his body vomit oozed. It cam from his eyes, his hair, his toes and many other places. It soaked his pajamas and his bed in brown muck. The smell was sickening. Ron looked steadily sicker and finally stepped outside the curtain, followed by a very green Hermione. There were sounds of vomiting.

The spell was over in less than five minutes. Madam Pomfrey was the only one who didn't look nauseous. Hermione came back in and sat by bed. Harry noticed that she avoided looking at him and was holding her handkerchief over her nose.

Ron was sitting on the bed outside when she said "Now, this potion, Lavender and Dew Dee grass is a muscle-relaxant. It will also make you sleep."

Harry gulped it down. It smelt like Aunt Petunia's cheap perfume and tasted worse than vomit. Almost immediately he felt himself relaxing. As the bottle dropped from his hand and tinkled on the floor he heard Madam Pomfrey say "He won't be awake for at least 10 hours, maybe more. Go back to your common room and I'll send a messenger for you when he awakens."

The last thing Harry was conscious of was Hermione's hand brushing his forehead. "Don't worry Harry we'll be back" she said.

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Preview for next chapter: Harry wakes up and gets another mysterious letter and learns more about his new teachers. What will happen to Harry?

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	3. The Second Letter

**Chapter 3: The Second Letter**

Disclaimer: I don't own this, JK Rowling does.

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"Two Days!" Harry exclaimed, "That can't be possible!" He felt horrified, what had he missed? The game! In two days he had been asleep he'd missed a match against Hufflepuff. "Oh dear," he thought aloud. 

"It is, believe me," said Ron. "You looked dead. You just lay there without moving or making a sound. You didn't even go to the toilet!"

The vomited sheets and pajamas had been removed, replaced by blue pin-striped patterns.

"The Quidditch game? I feel so bad, I-I let the team down-" Harry began trembling while saying these words.

"Don't worry, the game was cancelled. Not only were we short of a seeker, but we were also missing a keeper, since Pierre's gone back to Paris. Anyway, there wasn't much point of playing in bad weather and getting absolutely soaked, the teams agreed. Professor McGonagall doesn't want another case of influenza spreading again in Hogwarts" Hermione assured him and smiled at Harry "really you weren't missing a thing."

Harry realized the thumping he could hear wasn't his head pounding at all, but hails on the roof. He sat up slowly, "Wow, I wasn't sick long and I got heaps of cards."

A stack of colorful cards aligned the shelf next to his bed. They looked blurry to him, all their different hues melting intro a muddy brown. There a card signed by his team, a card from Fred and George Weasley, a card from Hagrid, a card from Neville, Dean, and Seamus (his roommates), a card from Hermione, a card from Ginny Weasley, a card from Ron, a nasty looking card from some Slytherins: 'Don't get well soon', a card from Professor McGonagall (his head of house), and another…scrawled note. He grabbed this, ripping it out of its grey envelope.

"Yeah, another of those came. We checked for a sender, Nothing, no-one. I don't know how it got here, we were here nearly all the time, but somehow managed to miss whoever sent it," Ron said with great disappointment in his hand.

It was written in the same green ink, in the same childish handwriting. This time there was no photos and the writing was tidier.

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_**Dear Harry,**_

_**I am sorry to hear that you are ill. I hope it is not my doing, though it probably is. I didn't mean to scare you with my threats, for they are empty. I still really need to meet you.**_

_**It's not safe for you at the moment; the dark side is still growing and moving closer, and closer, destroying everything they touch. If you don't listen to me, you will die and that can't happen. I won't let it.**_

_**Meet me 100 meters from Hagrid's hut at midnight two nights from now. Come alone once more. If you are accompanied it will be your last trip.**_

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Hermione skim read the note quickly, "No signature again-"

"Harry! You've woken up! I was just going to sneak in and deposit this and leave, but since you are awake I'll speak to you in person" A cheerful voice said.

One of the new teachers, Coach Moore, appeared from behind the curtains. She was drenched from prematurely white hair to her hard sneakers. Her oilskin coat was dripping great puddles onto the floor.

"Aren't you cold?" Hermione asked, looking at her teacher up and down. The woman was dressed scantily, her ringlet hair pulled back off her face in a ponytail, from which most of it was escaping. She wore green shorts and a black t-shirt reading 'World Cup Quidditch' in red.

Coach Moore's hazel eyes, ringed with fiery orange, flashed in the light. In a gushing voice she said, "No, I'm not. I've just been out for a run, got the old ticker pumping. You students should do it more often; it would be good for you. You're too pale, sickly, you know. Anyway, Harry, how are you feeling? You gave us teachers quite a fright."

"I'm feeling much better, thank you, Coach" Harry said.

"Coach! Call me by my first name for goodness sake, call me Aurora. If I'm going to work here I want to be addressed in the way I see fit! Call me Aurora, Harry, also for everyone here in this room" At that moment Aurora seemed especially young, despite her graying hair. Harry estimated she would be in her late twenties, by her wrinkle free skin, and by the way she talked and acted around the students and professors.

"All right, Aurora," Harry said. None of the professors had ever asked to be addressed by their first name before. It just wasn't done at Hogwarts. Harry would have liked to have seen; Snape's face if he waltzed into class one day and called him by his first name, Severus. Harry would probably be in detention for years.

Harry couldn't help to think how different Aurora was to the other new teacher, Professor Falcon.

Professor Falcon taught Defense the Dark Arts, the post which had been previously been filled by an excellent professor, Professor Lupin. Professor Lupin had left because Snape had accidentally let slip one breakfast that Lupin was a werewolf.

Coach Moore had been hired to keep Hogwarts students fit. Some parents had complained that their children were becoming sedimentary. Aurora was hired on the spot. Now every Monday, Friday, and Sunday morning all 4th years would go out for a jog.

Professor Falcon skin was tanned olive brown.  
Coach Moore skin was a pinkish white.  
Professor Falcon was strict and took no nonsense.  
Coach Moore was easy going and created nonsense.  
Professor Falcon had thick matt-colored hair of a burgundy color which was chopped off just below her jaw.  
Coach Moore had shoulder-length silver hair which shone like the steel wool sponges Aunt Petunia used to scrub pans.  
Professor Falcon had gray-green eyes that changed color when she was angry.  
Coach Moore had hazel green eyes and Harry had never seen her angry.  
Professor Falcon was of medium height and extremely curvaceous.  
Coach Moore was tall, lean and muscular.

"Here's your card Harry. I hope you can come back to my class soon. Now I really have to go, I'll get sick if I don't change out of these wet things and we can't have that, can we?" Aurora chuckled, baring her uneven teeth. "Goodbye Harry, Hermione, and Ron."

She padded away. Harry could hear her teeth chattering and water splashing off her coat onto Madam Promfrey's clean floor, as she left.

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End file.
